Paul Jones

Paul Jones is the voice of the Raptors on the FAN 590 and writes regularly for Sportsnet.ca.

Showing off his playoff wounds ... a true Canadian, eh.

Can we talk performances here?

After all, it is playoff time and this is where you make or break your name. and two recent performances in particular come to mind, Steve Nash in the close-out contest in San Antonio and LeBron James in a pivotal Game 5 at home against the Celtics.

Let's start with LeBron. Tuesday night's performance, in a word, was disappointing. Nobody knows how much James’ right elbow is bothering him and it’s terrible timing right now to be injured but health is one of the variables known as "luck" that plays into the success of championship teams. It's one of those breaks you have to get on the way to hoisting the trophy. James’ 3-of-14 Tuesday was due in part to his elbow but don't discount the Boston defence.

Just look at LeBron's numbers and you'll get an idea of what happened in the game. In Boston's three wins over Cleveland, they have held James to an average of close to 20 points per game on 36 per cent shooting from the floor. In wins, the King has scored 36.5 points per game and hit on close to 57 per cent from the field. It's a big discrepancy and if you listen to Kevin Garnett, and the mentality of a team that has won a title, he says, "We cannot come back here. We have to think this is our Game 7 coming up and we cannot afford to have the best team in the league have a Game 7 on their floor. Just not possible."

With Boston having that kind of mindset, on home court no less, it's hard to see them not going all out to win Game 6. Put it this way, can you see the Celtics eliminating the Cavaliers in Game 7 in Cleveland and thus winning three of four games in the series on the road? I think Boston will be playing their Game 7 Thursday night.

The Celtics have history on their side as well. When they lead a series 3-2, they have a 32-1 record with the only series defeat coming last year when the Orlando Magic won back-to-back games to eliminate them.

There is conjecture that with his imminent free agency, LeBron may have played his last game in Cleveland. The loss by the Cavs and James’ play is fueling that kind of speculation. To revisit the word ‘disappointing’ I ask you this question. Can you see Kobe Bryant coming up that flat at this stage of his career in a game that meant that much to his team? Nope, me neither.

And before we put this to bed, for some to suggest that James was testing his supporting cast in this situation is ridiculous. You don't take that sort of chance at this stage of the season with so much riding on the outcome. He may be hurt or he may have laid an egg, but it was not because he wanted to see how his supporting cast would perform under the glare of an intense spotlight without him. To suggest that is just foolish!

It was a totally different story with Captain Canada. Steve Nash's performance in Game 4 on the road in San Antonio should go down as one of the all-time great performances in playoff history. It won't because it's not the Finals and Michael Jordan playing with "food poisoning" in Utah, Willis Reed limping from the tunnel in Game 7 or Isiah Thomas scoring 25 points in a quarter on a bum ankle, but it was every bit as courageous. Nash said in the post-game that he could not see anything unless it was below him somewhere around his waist. It speaks to Nash's heart and character. He said he just knew something was going to happen at some point in the series and he was prepared to deal with it and that he did. Nash had a chance to finally get past the Spurs and nothing, not even playing with one eye shut, was going to stop him.

It's also time to tip your hat to head coach Alvin Gentry. For years, Mike D'Antoni did not trust his bench enough to develop it. If you compare Nash now to Nash at the same point in previous playoff runs, word is that he is fresher now than he ever has been. This is not the seven-seconds-or-less Suns squads that D'Antoni had but they are just as effective as they still play with pace and attention to quality offensive possessions. And guess what, the Phoenix bench has been a key in their success with Gentry stressing something else that D'Antoni didn't and that's defence.

Nash has at least one more series to try and get his team to the finals but the curtain could be coming down on James. Will tomorrow night in Boston be his final performance as a Cleveland player? We'll see.